512. Building Trust Through Design: A Case Study with Greg Merrilees
Release Date: 07/30/2025
Marketing Speak®
Most entrepreneurs ask: "How do I get my first client?" My answer: Stop asking. Start delivering value—uninvited, uncompensated, and unapologetically. When I dropped out of my PhD program in 1995 (drowning in student loan debt), I had no portfolio, no speaking experience, and no business asking Fortune 500 companies for their money. But I understood something most don't: Your playing small does not serve the world. In this Marketing Speak episode, I reveal: The "willing suspension of disbelief" that opens miraculous opportunities Why I transform every interaction with the...
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Most CEOs and entrepreneurs are neglecting their most important asset: their personal brand. Kara Goldin (founder of Hint Water) asked me a great question on her show: "How does SEO vary for a brand versus an individual?" My answer surprised her—and it might surprise you too. In this special crossover episode on Marketing Speak, I explain why most business leaders focus exclusively on their company's brand while ignoring their own. The problem? Your personal brand is the only one you take with you throughout your career. Companies come and go, but your name is forever. What we covered: ...
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Most businesses expect AI to cut content costs in half and triple output. That fantasy rarely survives contact with reality. In this episode of Marketing Speak, I sat down with Eric Enge—founder of Pilot Holding, my co-author on all four editions of The Art of SEO, and author of Using Generative AI for SEO—to discuss what actually works with AI in marketing. Eric has built and sold four companies, including the award-winning Stone Temple Consulting. His latest insights cut through the AI hype to reveal sustainable strategies: ✅ Why 25-30% efficiency gains (not 4x productivity) is the...
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Most entrepreneurs have their calendars backwards—and it's costing them everything. Todd Herman has spent 21 years in high-performance athletics, working with Olympic athletes and billionaire entrepreneurs. His controversial insight is that most entrepreneurs are committing the cardinal sin of business: mistaking activity for achievement. Todd's philosophy is brutally simple: One goal. 90 days. Complete focus. No more half-built bridges. No more "90% finished" projects that generate zero revenue. No more productive procrastination disguised as "strategic planning." Here's what hit home...
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📉 Losing profit to unclear processes or ghosting clients? In this Marketing Speak episode, Melissa Morris reveals why most agencies leak profit—and how to fix it with better onboarding, clearer deliverables, and data-backed pricing. Whether you're drowning in Slack messages or tired of clients ghosting your team, this episode gives you the tools to fix it—fast. The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at .
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🚨Podcasters: If you're ignoring YouTube, you're flushing growth down the algorithmic toilet. In this episode of Marketing Speak, I break down why YouTube is non-negotiable—even if your download numbers are laughably low. 🎯 Inside the episode: • The lazy podcaster’s guide to turning transcripts into SEO machines • How to clone your content with the “Evil Twin” strategy • Why your client interviews should be stealth case studies • The 3 SEO pillars every podcaster must master (yes, even you) 700 downloads? 70,000? Doesn’t matter. If you’re podcasting without a strategy,...
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While everyone’s panicking about AI killing website traffic, one client scaled from 2M to 13M monthly visits. In the latest episode of Marketing Speak, design expert Greg Merrilees reveals how WhatIsMyIPAddress.com achieved explosive growth by building authority—not just pretty websites. Learn the exact architecture that beats AI Overviews and Google’s traffic death spiral. This episode is a blueprint for future-proofing your brand. The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at .
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The marketing game has fundamentally changed. While most businesses still chase website clicks, AI is forming opinions about your brand before anyone visits your site. In my latest Marketing Speak episode, Dixon Jones (CEO of InLinks and former Global Brand Ambassador for Majestic) reveals why traditional SEO metrics are becoming obsolete. Dixon, who's earned the Queen's Award for Enterprise and UK Search Personality of the Year, shares how large language models make purchasing recommendations based on entity knowledge, not keyword rankings. Here's the reality: When someone asks ChatGPT or...
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What if putting yourself first actually grew your business instead of hurting it? Sagi Shrieber, first designer at Fiverr and SimilarWeb, scaled his design agency to seven figures while working LESS hours. His secret? The "Nine to Twelve Rule" - blocking 9 AM to 12 PM daily for personal time before any client meetings. The counterintuitive result: Higher productivity, better client relationships, and sustainable growth without burnout. In our latest Marketing Speak episode, Sagi reveals why most entrepreneurs have it backwards and shares his exact framework for setting boundaries that actually...
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Most entrepreneurs are using AI completely wrong and missing massive growth opportunities. Danny Iny, founder of Mirasee and Harvard Business Review contributor, reveals why the difference between AI as a "junior assistant" vs. "senior strategist" isn't about the technology—it's about the context you provide. In our latest Marketing Speak conversation, Danny shares his contrarian framework for turning AI into a strategic thinking partner that amplifies your unique perspective rather than creating generic outputs everyone else can produce. Stop trying to save time and start...
info_outline🎯 Your website is never finished. It's your silent sales machine working 24/7.
Greg Merrilees just shared the blueprint that took Firefly Legal from outdated to industry-leading in our latest Marketing Speak deep dive.
Here's what most service businesses get wrong: They treat their website like a digital brochure instead of a conversion-focused sales tool. Greg's systematic approach fixes this with strategic questioning, authentic branding, and conversion funnels that actually work.
The proof? Organic traffic skyrocketing, keyword rankings climbing, and lead generation hitting all-time highs.
This Marketing Speak episode is packed with actionable insights for any service business ready to level up!
The show notes, including the transcript and checklist to this episode, are at marketingspeak.com/512.